Albury to Echua/Moama 3rd December 2014

Albury to Echuca

The explorers William Hovell and Hamilton Hume travelled from the Yass area, north of Canberra, to Albury in the 1800s and were the first white men to see the Murray River, which they named the Hume River.  The river was later renamed the River Murray. Hovell inscribed a tree to mark the feat on the 17^th November 1824. This tree still stands in Albury next to the Murray River, which was just across the road from the hotel where we were staying, so in the morning we walked across the road to take a look and read the details.

Sheila & the Hovell Tree

NB. The plastic sheet around the tree is used to stop possums climbing the tree and damaging it.  This is a fairly common sight.

We then drove up to a lookout overlooking the city to get an almost 360 degree view. From the top we could just make out the Hume Dam, which was formed across the Murray River, and helped to form the extended Hume Lake that we had seen the day before. We made an attempt to leave but the battery was flat again so had to call out the breakdown service. This time we got a new battery. I will have to see whether we can claim this off the rental company. 

Galah - another local bird

On the road again we headed for Echuca/Moama and like Albury , which is in NSW, and its twin city Wodonga in Victoria,  on opposite sides of the Murray River, so Echuca is in Victoria and Moama in NSW separated by the Murray.

En route we stopped in Rutherglen, famous for having a large number of wineries, and then called in to Campbells’ Winery to sample some local produce. 

The landscape for almost the whole route of 200km or more consisted of absolutely flat plains with grazing sheep and cattle and some crops and tree lined straight roads.

We came across Lake Mulwala, on the edge of Yarrawonga, and could see that the lake had been extended in the past with similar signs of erect dead trees in the lake as we saw in Lake Hume. This looked quite eerie as though a major disaster had taken place. 

Lake Mulwala

We stayed in Moama just across the Murray River and in the evening walked down to a local restaurant for dinner and sat outside to eat. However, dark clouds were forming to the south and it looked as though a storm was brewing in the distance. We ate up fairly promptly and made a hasty retreat and as we walked down the road lightening was throwing sheets of light across sky. We made it back in time before the rain arrived.